


Sensory Deprivation

by BookMonsterEliz



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), F/M, Fix-It, Found Family, Polyamory, Steve Rogers/everyone - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 15:38:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11405412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookMonsterEliz/pseuds/BookMonsterEliz
Summary: This is my own little fix it fic au of life in Avengers Tower. It focuses on Steve, loosening up with his team!Also my own little 4th of July happy birthday to Captain America!





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

So, you can skip this bit if you'd like as it's basically context. This story is set after Avengers: Age of Ultron but before Captain America: Civil War. In my little universe they stay in Avengers Tower, with some major changes. Clint and Natasha are together, but quiet about it, no farm with a wife and kids for him, that was totally his brother Barney’s place. Bruce does not storm off like a man child, he comes home to the tower. Pietro is not dead, tho sometimes certain Avengers wish he was because man he is nosy as hell. Thor stays on earth and shares his floor in the tower with Jane. Darcy has a suit of rooms on their floor and puts her political science degree to good use as an official “Avengers wrangler.” Sam has some rooms on Steve's floor and is the team's psychiatrist. Tony visits him regularly and has instated a “let's prevent Tony Stark from making stupid decisions” oversight committee, headed by Sam and Pepper. Rhodey is also on this committee and has a suit of rooms on Tony’s floor that he frequents whenever he has time. Having Vision around instead of Jarvis takes a bit to get used to. Clint cannot help but crack jokes about Bruce and Tony being dads and before long, to both men’s horror, Vision starts calling them that. Overall, the team has become a family: loud, a little crazy, not always on the same page, but they have each others backs.  
Civil War never happens because Tony and Steve talk about their feelings like adults. With a little bit of help. Who am I kidding, it takes a lot of help, namely from Sam, Pepper, and Rhodey. There’s raised voices, tears, angry silences, but in the end, Tony is able to get across to Steve, and the whole team, how much they mean to him, and how much he does not want to fuck up. Again. He eventually listens when they tell him he can’t control every variable, not every death is his fault. Steve opens up about his search for Bucky, the Winter Soldier. After some broken computer equipment, not a few angry tears, and some intensive research on Hydra operations, Tony concedes that Bucky was not completely under his own control when acting as a Russian murder machine. He’s not happy about knowing that Steve’s long lost bff killed his parents, but hey, the world’s a sucky place. Together, the team presents a united front of opposition to the Sokovia accords, insisting on the importance of remaining free from governmental control. They come to an agreement instead of an oversight committee, a team of world renowned humanitarians who will sounds alarm bells if they start to go off the rails. Of course, Hydra tries to blow the accords to bits, but with some help from T’challa, they prevent this, and show the world that Hydra and people with ill intent are behind the accords. Bucky is flushed out in the open in this mess, and recovered- by the whole team working together. They end up with the book that has the code for his mind control, and Sam and Wanda are working together to help Bucky heal.


	2. Bruce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve hallucinates and Bruce finds himself in an awkward position. A.I.M. sucks...

Chapter 1: Bruce 

Despite everyone’s frequent assumptions, Bruce was not that kind of doctor. Sure, he had some medical knowledge as he was a biochemist, but his degree was definitely not in medicine. Still, he could never seem to say no, especially when his friends got hurt in the field and he was the closest they had to a doctor. He hadn’t expected to be in that sort of a predicament today, not with Cap. 

The mission had started out simply enough, a tip off that some AIM goons were smuggling some dangerous chemicals through a university basement in Wichita, Kansas, of all places. The team had decided that Bruce was the most skilled for the recon mission, and Steve volunteered to come along as backup. What had begun as a simple recon mission had turned into a shitshow, as the dubious intel turned out to be correct. They’d expected to find a few broke and desperate collage kids trafficking in chemicals to AIM and instead, they stumbled into a fully operational AIM base. 

Their tour of the lab ended with shots fired- fancy, Hulk inducing laserfire. In the ensuing mayhem of broken beakers, chemical fires, and lab sprinklers, they’d managed to wreck the place. 

Bruce came to with a green tinted memory of flying beakers and screaming students. He swore, as he realized they’d been locked in the room when, as the Hulk, he’d knocked into the basement’s support beam, bringing down a large chunk of the ceiling. The lab was lit only with the red glow of the emergency lights, and the occasional sparks from the ceiling. Several AIM scientists lay on the wet floor, knocked out but still breathing. He stumbled to the nearest one, placing his fingers on her neck, breathing a sigh of relief at finding a steady pulse. He zip tied her hands behind her back and propped her up, noting that her forehead was feverishly hot. Bruce did the same with the others, turning at the sound of a pained groan.

“Aw, hell.” Steve groaned, coughing as he struggled to sit up. 

Bruce was at his side in an instant, firm hands steadying him, guiding him as he stood. Steve, swayed, took another step forward, and toppled sideways, onto Bruce’s waiting shoulder. 

“Woah, woah, hold on now. Come on, just a step back, there you go, up just a bit.” Bruce said as he maneuvered him to a lab table, helping him lay down, hugging the cool metal. 

Bruce lay a hand on the super soldier’s forehead, finding burning skin. 

“Shit.” 

A tired laugh bubbled out of the Captain at his friend’s swearing. Bruce performed a quick medical once over, finding dilated eyes, a too fast pulse, and a raging fever. He tapped on the comm piece the Captain wore, his own lost in the debris. 

“Friday, alert the local authorities that we need a little help here, please. And let the Tower know we could use some backup, whatever this stuff is, it’s knocked Steve for a loop.” 

 

“Great.”

 

“Please.” 

With a sigh, he stepped away from the table to go collect samples of the chemicals. He might as well make the most of his time trapped down here.   
A hand on his wrist stopped him.

“Please.” 

Steve's voice was raw, stripped of his bravado, full of pain and desperation.

“Don't leave me, Dugan.”

Bruce sighed, realizing that the chemicals were more dangerous than he'd realized if they were strong enough to make Steve hallucinate.

“It's ok, Steve. I'm not going anywhere.”

“Where's Bucky? Is Bucky ok?” he asked, his voice a rough rasp.

“Yeah, he's fine.”

“Have you radioed the base yet? I don't want Peggy to worry.” 

This was not good, Bruce thought. He didn't know what to do but play along.

“Umm, yeah, yeah. Help is on the way. Relax.”

“I'm tired, Dugan.”

Bruce weighed his options before answering. On one hand, there was the danger of Steve not waking up if he slept, but with his serum, how high were the odds? If he slept, he would at least have some peace, and maybe that would give his body what it needed to heal. 

“Fine, get some rest.”

He made to step away, but Steve did not let go of his hand.

“Steve?”

“You said you wouldn't leave me.”

“I won't.”

Awkwardly, Bruce patted his shoulder, and felt the other man relax into his touch. The tension in Cap’s shoulders melted away as he rubbed slow circles on his back. Bruce could feel the other man's breathing slow as he slipped into sleep. Still, his hand was stuck in the others grasp. He sighed. Who knew Steve could be as clingy as Tony?

The local emergency response team arrived within the next few minutes, and using Friday as a relay, Bruce was able to describe the situation to them. They set about the slow process of digging them out. The quinjet with Tony and the others only took about an hour to arrive and their help considerably sped up the rescue efforts. 

Natasha was the first one in the basement, and her eyes narrowed upon seeing Bruce's hand clutched tightly in Steve's.

“He won't let go.” 

“Here.” She said, stepping forward to help.

She pinched a few nerves in Steve's arm causing his grip to loosen. Bruce shook his own arm, feeling little pricks of pain run up and down it, happy it hadn't completely fallen asleep. 

“Bruce, what have I told you about partying without me, man?!”

Tony never failed to make an entrance. 

“I don’t think I’d call this a party, Tony.” Sam said, coming in behind him, rolling his eyes at the ever dramatic Iron Man. 

Tony sobered up pretty quickly once he saw Steve was out of it.

“Ouch, those must have been some pretty nasty chemicals. Were you able to ID them, Bruce?”

“Uh, not exactly, no.”

“Really? You’ve been locked in a basement for the last hour and you don’t know?” 

“Tony…” Natasha said, effectively shutting him up. 

“Man, this place is trashed. He couldn’t have ID’d them if he’d tried.” Sam said, gesturing at the broken beakers and equipment around them.

The paramedics were the next ones into the partially collapsed basement, and Bruce was spared further embarrassment from Tony as he gave the medics the information he had on the chemicals. The heroes broke up from there. Bruce and Sam stayed to help the paramedics while Tony and Natasha loaded a still knocked out Steve Rodgers onto the jet to take back to the medics at Stark Tower.


End file.
